Pune Crime: Businessman kidnapped, murdered for Rs 1 crore ransom

Three days after he was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 1 crore, 40-year-old bizman Dayaram Mulaji Rathod was found murdered by six suspects, including a murder convict released on parole

Three days after he was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 1 crore, a 40-year-old bizman from Sambhajinagar in Dhankawadi was found murdered by six suspects — including a murder convict released on parole — as the money was not paid to them.

The half-burnt body of Dayaram Mulaji Rathod (in pic) was found in the Bopdev Ghat area on the Pune-Solapur road on Wednesday evening.

Originally from Rajasthan, Rathod had settled in Pune 25 years ago and ran a catering business along with his nephew Pratap Ganesh Rathod.

Acting on a tip-off received by constable Santosh Kshirsagar, the Swargate police have arrested Shabir Shamsuddin Shaikh (38), Zaheer Shaikh (35), Inayat Shaikh (25), Ayub Sherkhan Pathan (30), Santosh Chavan (28) and Guddu Rashid Khan (26) alias Muslim, all residents of Kondhwa.

Shabir Shaikh was serving a life sentence in another murder case and had recently come out on parole. He was expected to return to Yerawada jail on June 7.

Kidnapped
After providing catering services at Yash Lawns in Bibwewadi, Dayaram Rathod was returning home on his bike in the wee hours of Sunday. The suspects, who were in a car, intercepted his bike and kidnapped him around 2 am.

His nephew, Pratap, received a call an hour later from his colleague Mewaram Mewal, who said that a car had hit Rathod and some youths had forced him into a car. Pratap then lodged a complaint about Rathod’s abduction with the Bibwewadi police.

The suspects’ interrogation has revealed that, after abducting Rathod, they demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore from him.

When he refused to pay, they strangled Rathod, threw his body in the Bopdev ghat area and tried to burn it by pouring petrol over it. Rathod’s half-burnt has been sent for an autopsy to Sassoon hospital.

A senior official from Swargate police station said, “Santosh Chavan and Guddu Khan are also into the catering business and knew Rathod. They also knew that he was making good money from his business.”

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